


Sorera Subete Itoshiki Hibi ~Those Were Precious Days~

by koinuchan81



Series: Takumi-kun Series Perfect Edition vol.1 [8]
Category: Takumi-kun Series
Genre: BL novel, Boy's Love, Light Novel, M/M, No Takumi here, Shouzou is the mom of his family, and probably everyone's mom friend too, orginal by Gotoh Shinobu, translation of a Japanese novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:19:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24195775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koinuchan81/pseuds/koinuchan81
Summary: Akaike Shouzou's Golden Week vacation at home with his father and childhood best friend are not nearly as relaxing as a vacation should be. Now, let's throw Gii into the mix!
Series: Takumi-kun Series Perfect Edition vol.1 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1124238
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Sorera Subete Itoshiki Hibi ~Those Were Precious Days~

**Author's Note:**

> This story shows some serious age (it was written in 1987), with talk of telephone cards and such, and also a very outdated gay=AIDS reference.

Sunday morning was an early one. But it shouldn't be! It was a day off. You should sleep until around noon, enjoy a leisurely brunch, lounge around until evening and finally really wake up around dinner time. That's the correct way to spend a Sunday at home!

"Ugh. It's six." Akaike Shouzou mumbled, looking at the alarm clocks by his bedside in amazement.

Of course, it wasn't six in the evening. It was six in the goddamn morning.

It took Shouzou about fifteen seconds to turn off all the alarms that had started ringing at six on the dot. The ones by his bed, that is. There was a line of clocks leading to his bedroom door, one every thirty centimeters or so. He had no choice but to get out of bed.

"What the hell is Dad thinking?" This could only be the work of Akaike Mitsuzou, Shouzou's only blood relative, his slightly eccentric father.

When had he put those there? When he had gotten in late last night, he had gone straight to bed, without even a greeting. There weren't any clocks in here then.

"Are you up, Shouzou?" Mitsuzou stuck his head in the door, hair fluffy and eyes tired.

"I'm pretty sure a volcano would be quieter. Is this something you should do to your precious only son who has come home for Golden Week?"

"No, we just really had to wake up at six. I have to be on the eight o'clock shinkansen to Osaka for work."

"So maybe you should have put the clocks in your own room." Shouzou complained sullenly.

"But it's loud if they go off so close, right?" Mitsuzou furrowed his brow.

"That's how they wake you up!" I could follow his train of thought. This was a university professor who was teaching the leaders of tomorrow? ----Japan's future was in danger. 

"It's lonely to wake up alone, though. You didn't even say 'I'm home' last night."

"And this is your revenge?"

"It's just so empty, sitting down to breakfast without seeing you at all..."

"Dad! How old are you!?"

"I'm forty-six!" Mitsuzou puffed up with pride.

Whatever....

*****

And just who do you think ended up making breakfast?

"You're a cooking genius, Shouzou. You must take after your mom." Mitsuzou scooped the hard yolk from his fried egg onto his rice and started shoveling it into his mouth.

"You can hardly call a fried egg 'cooking'." Even kindergarteners can make them nowadays." He was probably exaggerating a bit there.

"Wrearry? I shink is prewry goon."

"Don't talk with your mouth full. I can't understand a word you're saying. Is that truly the behavior of someone who's savoring their food?"

"Ah. Showry."

"When will you be back?"

Mitsuzou hurriedly swallowed, "I'll be back tonight. I want teriyaki chicken and pumpkin pudding for dinner."

"....What are you talking about?"

"Oh, and some Gold Medal Rose to drink. Two bottles should be enough."

"And who's going to make this?" Shouzou's tone had gotten lower.

This wasn't funny! Due to a series of holidays with one or two school days between them, there was only a three day stretch off for Golden Week this year. And the third day was going to be used up just getting back to school. He had a lot he wanted to do!

"----You won't make it?" Mitsuzou's shoulders sagged sadly, "I see. You don't want to eat dinner with me."

"Ah... That's not what I..."

"I get it. I'll eat out tonight. I'm being selfish, wanting to eat your home cooking. It's only been a month since we've seen each other. I'm just being pathetic...." Mitsuzou hung his head, even going so far as to put down his chopsticks. He sniffed.

Geez!

"I get it! I'll cook! ---What else do you need?"

Mitsuzou was suddenly all smiles. "One Akaike Shouzou-kun, please." He answered.

Shouzou sighed. This guy was impossible.

*****

"Dad, do you have your handkerchief and tissues?"

"They're in my pocket."

"Your wallet?"

"My inside jacket pocket."

"Anything else you're forgetting? What about your watch?"

"It's on. Ah! The train schedule!" Mitsuzou ran up the stairs and grabbed the pocket-sized schedule book. He hurriedly put on his shoes. "I'm off."

"Have a good trip." The front door closed with a clang. "Hold on, Dad left with JUST the train schedule." Looking down at his feet, he saw a black attaché case sitting on the hallway floor. 

"He's useless!"

Shouzou threw on some sandals and ran out of the house. Mitsuzou was just getting into the taxi he had called.

"Dad, your bag!" He yelled, running down the path to the gate. 

Mitsuzou slowly opened the taxi door and nonchalantly said, "Ah, thanks." He accepted the case leisurely. He was worried about what other people would think of him.

"Are you forgetting anything else?" Shouzou asked stubbornly.

"I'm perfect." Mitsuzou made a peace sign.

"Make sure that you get on the right train."

"You're such a worry-wart, Shouzou."

And whose fault is that? Shouzou complained inwardly.

"Once again, have a good trip."

"I'm off." Mitsuzou said, smacking a quick kiss on Shouzou's cheek.

Ugh.

Mitsuzou jumped back into the taxi. What a weirdo! He had the driver take off before Shouzou could yell at him.

"----Dammit. Where'd he pick that up from? This isn't some foreign film." Shouzou brushed off the shoulders of his shirt, "I lose faith in myself when I think about being related to him." He headed back inside.

*****

Akaike Shouzou, sixteen years old. A second year student at Shidou Academy High School. Often extolled as a 'model student' by Takumi-kun, he was a member of the disciplinary committee.

Let's keep it to ourselves that Shouzou's secret talent was cooking.

Also------.

"He's let the laundry pile up again. We even got a new washing machine when I went away to Shidou. He's so lazy. All he has to do is push one button. Look at this, it's over a year old, and it still looks unused. It's even still half wrapped!"

After cleaning up from breakfast, Shouzou had thrown the contents of the hamper into the washer. "Just in case----."

He ran up to his father's room. Surely enough, there was dirty laundry strewn around the room.

"I told him he should have a cleaning service come once a week." He wanted his father to at least vacuum, but considering he once broke it by just turning it on, Mitsuzou was still traumatized.

"Even though I showed him how to do everything, he hasn't done any of it."

Shouzou threw the clothes in the hamper, and then got down to cleaning his father's room.

His father was passionate about his research, and lazy in his home life. His desk was a mountain of papers, which were only 'organized' in his father's mind.

Shouzou straightened them up, only glancing at their contents, and the room was clean in a flash. The first load of laundry had finished by then, so he headed out to hang it to dry in the garden.

"You do well enough, even though your mom ran off." 

Mitsuzou had said fondly. He said such an unfortunate thing so cheerfully.

"I don't have a choice. I'm used to it, anyway."

Shouzou's mother had passed away when he was ten. More than the shock of losing his mother, Shouzou was worried about living alone with his clumsy father. When his mother had been alive, his father hadn't done anything for himself. It was impossible to ask a person like that to take care of a child. And so, the more adaptable person adapted.

One he had adapted, and had room to feel anything, Shouzou really realized that he had lost his mother.

One day, he couldn't stop crying. He was just a child, who wanted to be comforted. The one who held him that day was his father.

So, clumsy or lazy, there was still no replacing him in Shouzou's life.

"Finally done." It was almost noon when Shouzou finished everything. "Doing all this, I guess I have to admit I'm suited to doing housework. I forgot that when I was at Shidou." Thinking of Shidou reminded him.

"Oh, shit. What time is it?"

The clock in the living room read 11:38.

"Crap. I'm eight minutes late." He'd forgotten, after his father's sudden attack this morning. "And he's a stickler for time."

He hurried and got his stuff together, walking out the door with keys and wallet in hand. He hurried to the nearest train station on his bike.

There was an attractive boy waiting under the station clock, with a disappointed expression.

"You're fifteen minutes late, Shouzou." Gii said coldly.

"Sorry, my bad. I was busy with a lot of stuff." It was always better to just honestly apologize to Gii, rather than make up excuses.

"You didn't forget I was coming, did you?"

Bull's-eye.

"Ha ha ha." Shouzou couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't try to brush it off by laughing. --- Here."

"What's in the bag?"

"Present."

"Huh...?"

"Which way to your house?"

"Up that hill. I have to go shopping first, though...." Shouzou said hesitantly.

He took the offered bag. When he looked inside, there were several records. The cheap printing on the spine told him that these were records you couldn't find in Japan. There was even a record that he had just mentioned in passing to Gii about six months ago. He had forgotten about it himself. He was well aware that he could have only gotten these overseas, but Gii had remembered.

Gii really wasn't just your average guy.

"Thanks, Gii."

"You don't need to thank me. Records are cheap over there. I didn't think it would take six months to get them all, though." Gii winked elegantly.

"I'm touched."

"OK, I want boiled potatoes for dinner. And miso soup, broiled fish and eggplant, also..."

"Hey, Gii, what are you going on about?"

"Dinner menu. You make the best potatoes." He gave a beautiful smile.

It couldn't quite compare with Mitsuzou's smile, though.

"What the hell happened to my Golden Week!?"

*****

"Shouzou-kun, I finished the chicken and cutting up the pumpkin." His childhood friend Namiko said brightly, walking into the Akaike's kitchen.

"Nami, mix the pumpkin with the cram in that bowl, add a couple splashes of brandy and throw it in the fridge."

"Anything else?"

"Cut up the pineapple."

"Heh, so you call Namiko-chan 'Nami'." Gii walked into the kitchen with an empty coffee cup. He had been lounging in the living room, watching a video.

The kitchen was covered in the makings of a rather strange combination of dinners. Shouzou's neighbor and childhood friend Namiko-chan was helping out.

"Yeah, it's pretty rude, isn't it? We're the same age, too. And I call him Shouzou-kun, properly."

"Nami, if you have time to move your mouth, move your hands!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Gii chuckled.

"When you're finished there, shred the lettuce and slice the cucumbers."

"I can't do all this at once."

"That's why I said 'when you're finished'."

"I have to cut up the pineapple next."

"You never shut up."

"You're the one who made the mistake."

"Nobody's going to want to marry you like this."

"Well, pardon me. I'm actually pretty popular. I can pick and choose. You, on the other hand, spending three years in a school with only boys around, might turn gay."

Gii choked on his coffee. (How silly, coffee isn't even solid.)

Nami passed a towel to the coughing boy.

"Are you all right?"

"Ah, thanks. I'm just in the way here, so I'll go back to my video."

Shouzou grinned as he watched Gii hurry away.

"Shouzou-kun, Saki-kun looks like a model, doesn't he?" Namiko sighed, admiring Gii's back. "He's just great, no matter how many times I see him."

"He's the most attractive guy at Shidou."

"It's probably pretty dangerous for him."

"What is?"

"Upperclassmen going after him and such."

"He's the one doing the chasing. ---Hey, what kind of books have you been reading? You've gotten some strange ideas."

"Shouzou-kun, if you get AIDS, tell me first, okay?"

"What are you going on about?"

Namiko giggled, "I'll cut the pineapple now."

Maybe he shouldn't have told her Gii was American...

"Girls nowadays are weird."

This is what Shouzou truly believed.

*****

The Akaike family had a lively dinner that night.

"Oh, Gii-kun, you came. I haven't seen you since last New Year." Mitsuzou lit the fuse with that one phrase.

Mitsuzou wouldn't be stopped, eating and talking, with wine in one hand.

That was fine for Mitsuzou, but Gii was drinking wine with his Japanese food. ----Yeah.

Namiko showed up with her parents for dessert, making for a rather party-like atmosphere. A drinking party, that is.

"Shouzou-kun, we're out of ice." Namiko said to Shouzou, who was making some snacks in the kitchen.

"Because you used it all. Don't you have any at your house?"

"Yeah, I'll go get it."

Nami slipped on some sandals by the kitchen door, holding the ice bucket up and out of her way. Shouzou grabbed it.

"It's fine. It's dark out, I'll go get it."

"Huh? It's fine, I'm just going next door."

"It's okay. You take the veggies out instead."

"Okay..." Nami stayed by the door for a moment after it closed behind him, "I feel bad making him work on his vacation."

The yard was full of drying laundry and the house had been cleaned as well. He must have been at it all day.

"He should have held back on principle." But that was one of Shouzou's good points, Namiko concluded silently.

"Namiko-chan, can I get a glass of water?" Gii's face was bright red.

"You've drunk too much. Your face is red."

"The dads are too strong. I can't keep up anymore."

"Just a sec. It isn't cold, that okay?"

"As long as it's water."

Namiko filled a glass with water. Gii downed it in one go.

"Thanks, that was good."

"You're welcome."

"Where's Shouzou?"

"He went to my house to get ice." 

"Hmm." Gii didn't go back to the living room, and came to stand at Namiko's side instead.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Ask as many as you want." Gii answered, making Namiko chuckle.

"Is Shouzou this serious at school, too?"

"Compared to the rest of us, yeah."

"He isn't pushing himself too hard?"

"His 'pushing himself' is what keeps us all in fear of the disciplinary committee." Gii joked, and Namiko's shoulders shook with laughter. Her face suddenly went serious.

"When he goes away, I end up worrying about all sorts of random things."

"For example?"

"Shidou is all guys, right? There might be 'that sort' of romance, or fighting, and it's bound to be on a different scale than what girls could manage. And he seems strong, but he gets colds and fevers easily."

"He stays in bed at least one day a month in the winter."

"Right!? ---But there's no point in worrying. He's a little more grown up every time he comes home. And now, I was supposed to go get the ice, but he just said it was dark, so... That wouldn't have happened last year. He would have said 'nobody would want to attack someone like you' or something like that. Makes me feel lonely, somehow. We've always been friends, and we grew up together. Now it's like he's leaving me behind, and I'm just chasing after him. It's confusing me. I feel like I can't follow him, so I'm uneasy."

"Well, he's a guy and you're a girl, so you can't really compare yourselves."

"Are you always with Shouzou?"

"Not lately. We're in different dorm rooms now."

"I see..." Namiko hung her head, looking worried.

Gii lightly clapped her on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. He's completely straight; he won't catch AIDS or anything." Namiko turned bright red.

"You heard that?"

"All girls with friends in an all-boys boarding school worry about that stuff. As long as they don't get any really weird ideas, it's fine. My older sister always grills me when I come home."

"She does?"

"Well, as far as Shouzou is concerned, it's fine. He's iron-clad straight. Nobody's brave enough to try hitting on him, anyway."

"That's good." Namiko smiled in relief. "Wait, as far as he's concerned? What about you, Saki-kun?"

*****

"Hey, Shouzou. If you end up marrying that girl, you better not ever cheat on her." Gii said, claiming more than half of the pillow. "She may be cute, but she's really perceptive."

Shouzou had come back at just the right time to avoid answering her question, which was good, because Gii wasn't exactly sure how to do so.

\---He couldn't just come out and say that he had fallen for a boy. That would just fuel Namiko's worries.

The true owner of the pillow clung to it, pushing the interloper away.

"Who'd marry Nami? Move over, would you? I'm about to fall off the bed.”

It was about half past midnight at this point.

"Well, Takumi will be relieved."

"What do you mean? Something happen to Hayama?"

"Of course it's not likely, but on the off chance, he was worried."

"On the off chance of what? Something about the two of us?"

"Having a 'dangerous' relationship."

"---Don't even joke about that. I'll shove you off the bed."

"Didn't get it at all last year, but this year a lot of people have been asking if 'Saki-kun and Akaike-kun are dating'. You must be doing something to confuse them."

"I'm not acting any differently than last year."

"Right. We shared a room for a whole year without anything happening." Shouzou was looking angry. Time to change the subject, "So, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"About the same as today, I guess. What about you? If you want to hang out..."

"I'm going to the house in Tokyo. There's something I have to take care of there."

"Hmm. Private? Or something your dad wants you to do?"

"The latter."

"That's tough, having to be so busy during your vacation."

"You, too, Shouzou."

"Ah, that's true."

The two laughed quietly.

"What train do you need?"

"I want to get there around nine."

"You'll need to get up early. Want me to set an alarm?" Shouzou set the one remaining alarm clock for 7am. The rest he had left set for 6am, and lined up on the nightstand in Mitsuzou's room. "Well, good night 'Professor Gii'."

"Night, 'Chef Shouzou'."

*****

The train pulled up to the platform.

"Take care." Shouzou said.

"Thanks. See you at school tomorrow." Gii replied, "Oh, here. You can have these." He hurriedly pulled something out of his bag.

"Those are movie tickets." Shouzou's eyes sparkled. He loved movies.

"I was going to ask Takumi, but then my dad came up with plans for me. No point in wasting them, though. There are two, so take Namiko-chan."

"Nami?" Shouzou complained, "Why would I want to go with her?"

"You seem happy." Gii teased.

"Shut up! The doors are going to close."

"Crap!" Gii jumped on the train just as the doors were closing, and the train pulled out of the station.

The train slowly disappeared from Shouzou's view.

"Geez. Nami has her own things going on." Shouzou huffed at the train, "It's not that easy to invite her." He turned away from the platform and went out the ticket gates, "Well, there's no harm in asking."

He got on his bike, which he had left in the lot next to the station.

"Yesterday was pretty grueling, so I'll be nice and ask her." He started pedaling, "She should watch movies every once in a while and remember even one actor's name." He headed up the hill towards his neighborhood. "I mean, mixing up Schwarzenegger and Stallone is weird, right?"

Shouzou passed by the gate to his house and headed straight down the hill to Namiko's.

She was in the garden, hanging laundry.

"Hey, Nami!"

She saw him coasting down the hill on his bike. "Good morning!" She said, "Did Saki-san go home already?"

"I just saw him off at the station. Anyway, want to go see a movie?" Shouzou stopped next to the fence and asked Namiko, staying on his bike.

"You're asking me on a date?" Namiko tilted her head in amusement.

"Idiot. Who said it was a date?"

"Haha. Just a sec, I'll go change."

"What you have on is fine. Hop on."

"No, this is just lounging-around clothes. And you're saying I should just leave the laundry half-way done?"

"Why are you doing it? Where's your mom?"

"She has a hangover. She tries to keep up with Dad, but it's impossible."

"Haha. Your mom is cute."

"Yeah. She tries too hard, but it's her personality."

"Hmm... What about you?

"Me?"

"Do you take after her?"

Namiko gave the sheet in her hands a quick shake and spread it on the clothesline. 

"...Probably." She answered honestly. "Hey, I'll ride my own bike. Will you go around by the gate?"

"Can you keep up with me?" Shouzou teased.

"I ride to school every day." Namiko flexed her muscles, "I won't lose to the likes of you." She laughed.

*****

"----Shouzou, do you have your handkerchief? Tissues?"

"I've got them."

"Did you put your train ticket in your pocket?"

Shouzou silently pulled the ticket out to show him.

"Do you have enough spending money?" Mitsuzou pulled out his wallet.

"I'll let you know if I run out."

"Don't drink the water."

"I'm not going on an overseas vacation." Shouzou laughed lightly in exasperation.

"Did you pack the underwear I bought you?"

"Yes, I did. ---And don't talk about it in public." Shouzou glanced at Namiko. She just looked away, and acted like she wasn't listening.

"You have cold medicine?"

"Yeah."

"And, then..."

"Dad, even if we find something I forgot, there's nothing we can do about it on the train platform. It's not like I can go back for it."

"Yeah, but still."

Shouzou wasn't the only worry-wart in the family. He was definitely his father's son.

Just then, they announced Shouzou's train. Namiko looked up at Shouzou.

"Shouzou, make sure you call on the weekends."

"I know, Dad, same as always."

The warning bell sounded. When it stopped, the doors would close, and the train would leave.

He turned to Namiko, who was standing there, looking like she wanted to say something. "Nami, you take care!" He shouted over the bell.

"You, too. Here, for you. Bye!" She waved her hand merrily, then turned on her heel and headed down the stairs.

"Huh. Did she need the bathroom?" Mitsuzou asked with no delicacy.

"Don't drink too much, Dad." The final warning buzzer sounded. The doors closed with a thud.

Seeing someone off, being seen off, meeting someone or being met. The station was a place for hellos and goodbyes.

"I still can't get used to it."

Shouzou watched his father's silhouette grow smaller and smaller, then turned and headed to his seat.

It had been a short three days. He had spent all three days doing housework, but it was still a 'golden' week.

He sat down in the sparsely populated reserved-seat car and looked at the envelope that Namiko had handed him.

"What did she give me?"

When he looked inside, he found a letter and two telephone cards.

"Dear Shouzou-kun,  
The long-distance phone calls every week must be hard on your wallet, so to pay you back for the movie yesterday, I'm giving you these telephone cards. Please call your lonely father. And if you have any points left over, give a call to your childhood friend. As always, take care of yourself.  
P.S. - Tell Saki-san 'Thanks for everything.'  
Namiko"

"Tell Gii? Everything? Thanks!?"

*****

Takumi was witness to the impressive wrestling move that Shouzou subjected Gii to when they met again. Of course, whether it turned into a fight or not isn't worth mentioning.


End file.
